Coming into Sunday’s contest, the backdrop of Florida vs Alabama was the off-court drama surrounding Charles Bediako. The literal G League dropout got clearance from an Alabama booster masquerading as a judge to give it the old college try one more time and suit up for the Crimson Tide.
Todd Golden had been extremely vocal in the lead-up to Sunday’s contest that Bediako playing was a sham and threatened the very fabric of college basketball. But on Sunday, Florida proved they weren’t just willing to talk the talk, they were willing to walk the walk.
Florida proved they are the best
The first ten minutes were mostly competitive as Bediako provided Alabama with size it otherwise wouldn’t havehad and the three-point shooting of the Crimson Tide allowed them to hang around. But once Bediako picked up a couple of fouls and the three pointers stopped falling, Florida ran away and never looked back.
Florida turned a 32-30 game with six minutes to play in the first half into a 46-36 lead by halftime, and whatever Nate Oats tried to tell his team at halftime didn’t work as Florida had a 20-point lead within four minutes of the second half.
For all the circus surrounding Bediako, it was Rueben Chinyelu who was the better center on the afternoon and had a double-double. When Bediako fouled out with two minutes to go, Chinyelu wasn’t afraid to fire up the Gainesville crowd to let the G League dropout know he needs to go back.
Lost in all the G League drama, too, is the fact that Alex Condon had one of the best games of his career with 25 points off 11-15 shooting. Thomas Haugh had 21 points, and Boogie Fland had 15.
The blowout was so bad that even Olivier Rioux got action at the end of the game, and even he scored a basket. At this point, Alabama and Nate Oats come across as the heel in wrestling who has to resort to every dirty trick in the book and still can’t get it done.
For at least two hours in Gainesville, the Gators were the good guys of the college basketball universe, and Golden reminded Oats, “I’m better than you, and you know it.”